Belt buckle



April 1951 w. A. CRITCHLEY EI'AL 2,548, 0

BELT BUCKLE Filed April 14, 1948 so INVENTORS g- I/Z frlki y if (Z 6 ril bzfy J Patented Apr. 10, 1951 BELT BUCKLE William A. Critchley and Thomas J. Critchley, Cranston, R. 1., assignors to John Casciano,

East Providence, R. I.

7 Application April 14, 1948, Serial No. 20,964

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to improvements in buckles for belts and has for an object the provision of a buckle which is an improvement over that disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 1,772,886, granted August 12, 1930, to Samuel W. Critchley.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved buckle of this kind which makes it possible to make buckles of different sizes adapted to be interchangeably connected to the same belt or to different belts.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved buckle of this character which permits the manufacture of buckles of various shapes capable of being attached to the same belt or to different belts.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved buckle of this kind in which the connection between the belt and buckle is so constructed that it will accommodate itself to the stretching and shapingof the belt to the body of the wearer.

The invention aims to provide an improved buckle in which it is not necessary to accurately locate the various parts of the connection between the belt and buckle.

The present invention also aims to provide an improved buckle of this character which comprises relatively few parts, is economical to manufacture and is easily attached to and detached from a belt.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be hereinafter more fully described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings, in which the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the two end portions of a belt showing the improved buckle in the process of being attached to the belt,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the two end portions of the belt showing the improved buckle in another phase of the process of being attached to the belt,

Figure 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the two end portions of the belt showing the improved buckle attached thereto, and

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I indicates one end portion of a belt and II the other end portion of the belt which is adapted to be worn about the waist of a person. The end portion IU of the belt is provided with a series of longitudinally spaced apart eyelets 52 which are substantially rectangular in shape. The other end portion H of the belt has attached thereto adjacent its transverse edge a female member I3 of a snap fastener. The end portion II of the belt has an eyelet it of substantially rectangular shape. The eyelet I4 is located in line with the female member I3 and is spaced longitudinally therefrom.

A body portion I5 of a buckle made of suitable metal has necks I6 and I1 extending rearwardly from its opposite side edges at an angle of the order of degrees thereto. Tongues i8 and I9 extend outwardly from the necks I6 and I1, respectively, at an angle of the order of 90 degrees. The tongues I8 and I9 are bowed slightly inwardly towards the rear surface of the body portion I 5 and their outer free ends are rounded.

A plate or clip 26 is attached to the rear surface of the body portion I5 and is located between and in line with the necks I6 and I'i. Adjacent its opposite ends 2i and 22, the plate 20 is crumped inwardly towards the rear surface of the.

body portion I5 as at 23 and 24 and these crumped portions bear against the rear surface of the body portion I5 to provide a space 25 between the body portion I5 and the plate 28. The opposite free ends 2| and 22 of the plate 26 extend rearwardly from their respective crumped portions 23 and 24 and engage the inner surfaces of the necks I6 and I I. The plate 223 is attached to the body portion I5 by the crumped portions 23 and 2d and the end portions 2i and 22 by means of solder or the like.

The plate 28 has an elongated slot 26. A male member of a snap fastener has its base 2! confined between the rear surface of the body portion I5 and the plate 20. The neck portion 28 of the male fastener member is located within the slot 26 and engages the side walls of the slot to guide the male fastener in its movement in the slot. The head 29 of the male fastener extends outwardly of the slot 26 and is adapted to be received by the female fastening element I3.

In the use of the device the buckle I5 can be attached to the end portion I I of a belt by inserting the tongue I8 into the eyelet I4 of the belt. The rounded edge of the tongue I8 will facilitate the insertion of the tongue I8 into the eyelet I4. When the tongue I 3 has been inserted into the eyelet I4, as shown in Figure 2, the male member of the snap fastener can be slid in the slot 26 of the plate 20 until the head 29 of the male fastener is positioned opposite to the female fastening ele- 3 ment I 3' at which time the head 29 can be snapped into the socket of the member 13.

As shown in Figure 4, the buckle i5 is securely held in proper position on the end portion H of the belt since the tongue 18 in the eyelet M will cooperate with the snap fastener to maintain the buckle in proper position on the end portion H of the belt. The belt can now be placed about the waist of the wearer and the end portion it of the belt positioned between the waist of the wearer and the rear surface of the end portion it until the desired adjustment is secured. At this time the tongue IQ of the buckle Hi can be inserted into the proper eyelet 12 of the end portion ii) of the belt, as shown in Figure 4. The belt will then be securely held in proper position until it is desired to remove the belt at which time it is merely necessary for the wearer to insert his finger at the back of the buckle between the end portions l0 and l! of the belt and with a slight forward push of the finger withdraw the tongue as from its eyelet 92.

Since the male member of the snap fastening element can be moved within the slot 25, buckles of various widths and shapes can be interchangeably used with the same belt so that the wearer can have one belt and a number of different sizes and styles of buckles which he can selectively attach to the belt.

Inasmuch as the male member of the snap fastening element is movable, it is not necessary to accurately locate the eyelet M with respect to the female fastening element 13 as the male member may be moved to compensate for any discrepancies. It is well known that belts in use will stretch and shape themselves to the body of the wearer. The improved buckle, by means of the movable male member, will accommodate itself to this stretching and shaping of the belt so that there will not be any bulging or puckering of the belt and no misalignment of the parts.

Since the tongues are bowed, pockets 3B are formed between each tongue and its neck into which the adjacent portions of the belt are urged by the bowed surfaces of the tongues.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claim.

What we claim is:

For use with a belt having one end portion provided with a series of longitudinally spaced apart eyelets and a second end portion provided with a female member of a fastening element and an eyelet longitudinally spaced therefrom, a buckle comprising a body portion, a neck. extending from each opposite side edge of said body portion, a tongue supported by each of said necks extending outwardly therefrom and disposed at approximately right angles thereto, one of said tongues adapted to be selectively inserted into one of the series of eyelets on the first end portion of the belt and the other of said tongues adapted to be inserted into the eyelet on the second end portion of the belt, a plate supported by said body portion in spaced relation to the rear surface thereof and having aslot therein, a male member of the fastening element supported by said plate for movement within said slot and adapted to be engaged with the female member of the fastening element on the second end portion of the belt.

WILLIAM A. CRITCHIEY. THOMAS J. CRITCHL-EY.

REFERENSES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

, UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

